Mark Allen Weiss

Professor and Associate Director

School of Computing and Information Sciences

Florida International University

Miami, FL 33199

305-348-2036

Email: weiss@cis.fiu.edu

Web page: http://www.cis.fiu.edu/~weiss

Overview

Mark Allen Weiss is Professor and Associate Director for the School of Computing and Information Sciences at Florida International University. He is also currently serving as both Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of Graduate Studies. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Cooper Union in 1983, and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Princeton University in 1987, working under Bob Sedgewick. He has been at FIU since 1987 and was promoted to Professor in 1996. His interests include data structures, algorithms, and education. He is most well-known for his highly-acclaimed Data Structures textbooks, which have been used for a generation by roughly a million students.

 

Professor Weiss is the author of numerous publications in top-rated journals and was recipient of the University’s Excellence in Research Award in 1994. In 1996 at FIU he was the first in the world to teach Data Structures using the Java programming language, which is now the de facto standard. From 1997-2004 he served as a member of the Advanced Placement Computer Science Development Committee, chairing the committee from 2000-2004. The committee designed the curriculum and wrote the AP exams that were taken by 20,000 high school students annually.

 

In addition to his Research Award in 1994, Professor Weiss is also the recipient of the University’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 1999 and the School of Computing and Information Science Excellence in Teaching Award (2005) and Excellence in Service Award (2007).

Education

1987

Ph.D. in Computer Science, Princeton University

1985

M.A. in Computer Science, Princeton University

1984

M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Princeton University

1983

B.E. in Electrical Engineering (Summa Cum Laude), The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

 

Professional Experience

2009 - present

Associate Director, School of Computing and Information Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL.

1996 - present

Professor, School of Computing and Information Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL.

1992 - 1996

Associate Professor, School of Computer Science, Florida International University, Miami, FL.

1987 - 1992

Assistant Professor, School of Computer Science, Florida International University, Miami, FL.

 

Honors and Awards

 

2007

FIU SCIS Excellence in Service Award

2005

FIU SCIS Excellence in Teaching Award

2000

Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis textbook named one of the thirty most influential books of the twentieth century (ranked #13) by Dr. Dobbs

1999

FIU University Excellence in Teaching Award

1994

FIU University Excellence in Research Award

1994

FIU Teaching Incentive Program Award

1990

FIU Outstanding Achievement and Performance Award

1983

RCA Fellowship and Merit Prize to Princeton University

1981

New York City First Place Winner, Putnam Mathematics Contest

 

Grants

  1. Florida State University Supercomputer Grant, 1988, $16,000.
  2. FIU Foundation: Summer Research Grant, 1989, $10,350.
  3. Defense Information Systems Agency: Data Structures Using Ada9X, 1994, $43,075.
  4. National Science Foundation: CISE-EIA: Development of an Institutional Infrastructure with Special Focus on Human-Computer Interfaces and Information Processing, (co-PI with M. Adjouadi, A. Barreto, M. Martinez, A. Pasztor, G. Roig, M. Weiss, R. Coatie) Sep 1999 – Aug 2006, $1,437,770.

Books

  1. M. A. Weiss, Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis, Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co., Redwood City, CA., 1992, 455 pgs. Second edition, 1995, 510 pgs.
  2. M. A. Weiss, Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in C, Addison Wesley, Reading, MA., 1993, 461 pgs. Second edition, 1997, 512 pgs.
  3. M. A. Weiss, Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in Ada, Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co., Redwood City, CA., 1993, 480 pgs.
  4. M. A. Weiss, Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in C++, Addison Wesley, Reading, MA., 1994, 498 pgs. Second edition, 1999, 588 pgs. Third edition, 2006, 586 pgs.
  5. M. A. Weiss, Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in Java, Addison Wesley, Reading, MA., 1999, 542 pgs. Second edition, 2006, 546 pgs.
  6. M. A. Weiss, Efficient C Programming: A Practical Approach, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ., 1995, 528 pgs.
  7. M. A. Weiss, Data Structures, and Problem Solving with C++, Addison Wesley, Reading, MA., 1996, 820 pgs. Second edition, 2000, 944 pgs.
  8. M. A. Weiss, Data Structures and Problem Solving Using Java, Addison Wesley, Reading, MA., 1998, 780 pgs. Second edition, 2002, 886 pgs. Third edition, 2006, 926 pgs. Fourth edition, 2010, 988 pgs.
  9. M. A. Weiss, C++ for Java Programmers, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2004, 280 pgs.

Chapters in Books

  1. B. Feild, G. Fraguio, J. K. Navlakha, and M. A. Weiss, “Expert Systems and Music: Translating Piano Music into Guitar Chords,” Advances in Artificial Intelligence Research, Volume II, JAI Press, 1992.
  2. M. A. Weiss, “STL,” Handbook of Data Structures and Applications, CRC Press, 2004.
  3. M. A. Weiss, “Parameter Passing,” Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Engineering, Wiley, 2009.

Compact Disk Publications

  1. M. A. Weiss, Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in C, published as part of the Dr. Dobbs CD on Essential Algorithms.
  2. M. A. Weiss, Operating Systems, article published as part of Microsoft's Encarta Encyclopedia.

Journals

  1. M. A. Weiss and R. Sedgewick, “Bad Cases for Shaker Sort,” Information Processing Letters 28 (1988), 133-136.
  2. M. A. Weiss and R. Sedgewick, “Tight Lower Bounds for Shellsort,” Journal of Algorithms 11 (1990), 242-251.
  3. M. A. Weiss and R. Sedgewick, “More On Shellsort Increment Sequences,” Information Processing Letters 34 (1990), 267-270.
  4. M. A. Weiss, “Empirical Study of the Expected Running Time of Shellsort,” Computer Journal 34 (1991), 88-91.
  5. Y. Ding and M. A. Weiss, “Best Case Lower Bounds for Heapsort,” Computing 49 (1992), 1-9.
  6. M. A. Weiss, “On Finding the Height of a Binary Search Tree,” Computer Journal 36 (1993), 280-281.
  7. Y. Ding and M. A. Weiss, “The Relaxed Min-Max Heap: A Mergeable Double-Ended Priority Queue,” Acta Informatica 30 (1993) 215-231.
  8. Y. Ding and M. A. Weiss, “On the Complexity of Building an Interval Heap,” Information Processing Letters 50 (1994), 143-144.
  9. W. Sun and M. A. Weiss, “An Improved Algorithm for Implication Testing Involving Arithmetic Inequalities,” IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering 6 (1994), 997-1001.
  10. S. Guo, W. Sun, and M. A. Weiss, “On Solving Satisfiability, Implication, and Equivalence Problems Involving Conjunctive Inequalities in Database Systems,” IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering 8 (1996).
  11. S. Guo, W. Sun, and M. A. Weiss, “Solving Satisfiability and Implication Problems in Database Systems,” ACM Transactions on Database Systems 21 (1996), 270-293.
  12. M. A. Weiss, “Shellsort with a Constant Number of Increments,” Algorithmica, 16 (1996), 649-654.
  13. M. A. Weiss, “Experiences Teaching Data Structures with Java,” SIGCSE Bulletin (refereed proceedings of the 28th SIGCSE Technical Symposium), (1997), 164-168.
  14. O. Astrachan, G. Chapman, S. Rodger, and M. A. Weiss, “The Reasoning for The Advanced Placement C++ Subset,'' SIGCSE Bulletin (1997), 62-65.
  15. S-C. Chen, X. Wang, N. Rishe, and M. A. Weiss, “A Web-Based Spatial Data Access System Using Semantic R-Trees,” Information Science: An International Journal, 167 (2004), 41-61.

Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes Series

  1. M. A. Weiss and R. Sedgewick, “Tight Lower Bounds for Shellsort (extended abstract),” Proceedings of the Scandinavian Workshop on Algorithms and Theory, Halmstad Sweden, July 1988, Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes #318, 255-262.
  2. M. A. Weiss and J. K. Navlakha, “The Distribution of Keys in a Binary Heap,” Proceedings of the Workshop on Algorithms and Data Structures, Ottawa Canada, Aug. 1989, Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes #382, 510-516.
  3. Y. Ding and M. A. Weiss, “The k-d Heap: An Efficient Multi-Dimensional Priority Queue,” Proceedings of the Third Workshop on Algorithms and Data Structures, Montreal Canada, Aug. 1993, Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes #709, 303-314.
  4. C. Orji, J. Solworth, and M. A. Weiss, “Improved Traditional Mirrors, ” Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Foundations of Data Organization and Algorithms, Chicago Illinois, Oct. 1993, Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes #730, 329-344

Panel Discussions

  1. M. Stehlik, S. Fix, S. H. Rodger, C. Nevison, M. A. Weiss, “Advanced Placement Transition to C++,” SIGCSE 1998.
  2. T. Dick, R. Peck, M. A. Weiss, “AP and College Faculty: What’s in it for me?,” ICTCM 2000.
  3. D. Gries, K. Larson, S. H. Rodger, M. A. Weiss, U. Wolz, “AP CS Goes OO,” SIGCSE 2001.
  4. R. L. S. Drysdale, J. Hromcik, M. A. Weiss, R. Hahne, “Java in the Morning… Java in the Evening… Java in 2004,” SIGCSE 2003.

Professional Activities

  1. Member (1997-2004) of the Advanced Placement Computer Science Development Committee; Chairperson of the committee (2000-2004).
  2. Member (1999-2000) of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Future of the Advanced Placement Examination.
  3. Member (1995-1996) of the Ad-Hoc Committee that advised the College Board on how to incorporate C++ into the Advanced Placement Exam. (This committee did not recommend the switch from Pascal to C++.)
  4. Reader (1999) of the Advanced Placement Computer Science Examination.
  5. Columnist (1992-1997) for the ACM SIGACT News. The Journal Backlog Report and Technical Report Column were regularly appearing features.
  6. Examiner for the Educational Testing Service: I have written questions for the Computer Science GRE Examination.
  7. Program Committee Member ACMSE 2006.
  8. Registration Chair for PDIS I, 1991.
  9. Judge for the International Science and Engineering Fair, Orlando, 1991.

 

University Service

 

  1. Member, College Library Committee (1987-1989)
  2. Editor of UFF Newsletter (1989-1991)
  3. Member, Faculty Senate (Spring 1991-1992)
  4. Member, University Academic Policies Committee (1991-1993)
  5. Secretary, College of Arts & Sciences (1992-1994)
  6. Procedural Committee, College of Arts & Sciences (1991-1992, (chair) 1992-1995)
  7. Member, University Curriculum Committee (1998-1999)
  8. Member, University Tenure and Promotion Policy Committee (1998-1999)
  9. Member and Vice Chair, College of Engineering Faculty Council (2006-2007)
  10. Member, College of Engineering Committee on Implementing the New Class Schedule (2006-2007)
  11. Member and Chair, College of Engineering Committee on Tenure Revision Guidelines (2007)
  12. Member, University Sabbatical Leave Committee (2008-2009)
  13. Member, College of Engineering 25th Anniversary Committee (2009)

School of Computing and Information Sciences Service

 

  1. Undergraduate Program Director (2009-)
  2. Graduate Program Director (1994-1996, 2009-)
  3. Human Resources Committee (1989-1990, 1992-1995, (chair) 1996-1997, 2002-2004, (chair) 2006-2007, (chair) 2008-2009)
  4. Graduate Committee (1988-1990, 1991-1992, 1994-1996)
  5. Curriculum Committee ((chair) 1998-1999, (chair) 2001-2002, (chair) 2003-2004, 2004-2005)
  6. Recruitment Committee (1989-, (chair) 1990-1992, (chair) 1997-1998, (chair) 1999-2001, (chair) 2002-2003, 2006-2007)
  7. Equipment Committee ((chair) 2004-2006)
  8. Awards Committee ((chair) (2006-2007, 2008-2009))
  9. Editor CONNECT Newsletter (1996-1997)
  10. TIP Committee (1996)
  11. Faculty Advisor for Programming Team (1990-1991) (with M. Milani) team was second in region and advanced to ACM Finals.
  12. Colloquium Series Coordinator (1990-1991, 1997-1998)

Master's Thesis Supervision

 

  1. Xinwei Cui, “Using Genetic Algorithms to Solve Combinatorial Optimization Problems,”1991
  2. Xiao Sheng, “Implementation of the k-d Heap,” 1996
  3. Yuping Huang, “Comparison of Searching Algorithms,” 1996

Courses Developed

 

  1. Topics in Algorithms (Spring 1989)
  2. C for Engineers (Fall 1991)
  3. Programming III (Spring 2002)

Courses Taught

 

  1. Introduction to Programming (COP-2210)
  2. C for Engineers (CGS-3423)
  3. Programming II (COP-3212/COP-3337)
  4. Intermediate Java Programming (COP-3804)
  5. Advanced Programming (COP-3223/COP-3338)
  6. Data Structures (COP-3530)
  7. Unix Systems Programming and C (COP-4225)
  8. Programming III (COP-4338)
  9. Topics in Algorithms (COT-5992/COT-5936/COT-6936)
  10. Analysis of Algorithms (COT-6315/COT-6400/COT-6405)